Reading comes first
Most tools like this are built around testing. Anki lives and dies by the cards due today. I wanted something built around reading instead, closer to my habit of reading a short article or the news than to sitting down to study. Read is that: open a term, take it in, move on. There's no pass or fail.
I read almost every day, and I do at least one Review a day, even if it's a single term, so testing stays in the mix but comes second. Quiz comes every few days, when I want a harder check. Picking a term out of a few options is easier than recalling it cold, so passing a Quiz alone doesn't mean I'm done with a term. Testing is optional, though. The rest of the app works fine if you only ever Read.
Where AI comes in
AI is optional and only ever works from your own terms. It does three things:
- Stories: a short story written around the terms you're due to read. Pick a style, a language level (A1 to C2), and how long it is.
- AI quizzes: quiz questions written from your terms, definitions, and examples.
- Listen: terms and stories read aloud. Stories highlight each sentence as it's spoken.
Stories and AI quizzes run on AI credits. New accounts get some for free. Simple quizzes, Read, and Review never use credits, so the app works without any of this. Some AI features may be switched off or limited at times.
What leaves the app: AI quizzes and Stories send your term names and definitions to Google or Anthropic, plus the examples for a quiz and any outline you write for a story. For audio, the text being read aloud goes to a speech provider.
What's actually in a term
A term isn't a flashcard. Next to the definition there's room for an example, a mental model, notes on how it's used in practice, an anti-example, where people disagree, and a free note, each added only when it would help, plus links to related terms. How terms are built has the full structure.
Getting terms in
I use a skill that generates term lists for a field, and there's a matching one for a language: words, phrases, or grammar for a given level. You'll find both under More ways to add once you're in. You can also add terms one at a time, or skip building anything and browse a shared collection. Any collection you build can be shared too, which puts it in Browse for everyone. It isn't sent to one specific person.
No due dates
There's no schedule. Whatever you're most at risk of forgetting comes up first, so no backlog is waiting for you when you come back.
How it knows what you know
You don't mark terms as known by hand. Lobyas works it out from how well you've retained each term, across reading it, recalling it in Review, and recognizing it in Quiz, and that fades again if you stop practicing.
Wherever you are
Use as many or as few of these as you want. The web app and the phone app share the same practice history, so switching between them doesn't reset anything.
- Web: Read (cards and Stories), Review, and Quiz each have their own page, and it's where you add or browse collections. Stories and audio are web-only.
- Phone app: the same app on Android and iOS, installed from the store.
Private by default
Your own collections stay private until you share them. Even in a shared collection, your progress and activity history stay yours, and other members never see them. I see only the basic account details needed to run the service, as the privacy page explains.
Getting in
You don't need an account to judge the content. Browse the public collections and read real terms before deciding whether to request access.
After that it's invite-only. You request access and, when there's room, we email you an invite with your invite code already filled in. If you already have an account, the same link signs you in.